IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said updated forecasts, to be released this week, were likely to be even more optimistic.

However, bankers from the IMF, World Bank and other organisations have warned that the progress is threatened by political movements that favour trade barriers, isolation, military aggression and other measures.

"If your aspirations start to rise but then there's no opportunity it can lead to fragility, conflict, violence," Dr Kim said. "This is the crash course we're going down."

Political uncertainties are increasingly behind many of the risks identified by sovereign debt analysts, said Moritz Kraemer, managing director of S&P Global Ratings, which tracks economic and political movements in dozens of countries to devise credit ratings.

The subject was also the topic of a speech by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi earlier this year.

Ms Lagarde said this month that policymakers "should not let a good recovery go to waste".

"We know what can happen if we let the moment pass," she said. "Growth will be too weak, and jobs too few. Safety nets will be unable to handle aging populations. Our financial system will be unprepared for future shocks."